14^ Slight in cokk. 



Difeafed ftraw X next examined the ft raw by the microfcope, making man/ 

 Uwfs^ecrTthat* directions with great attention. The refult of which was, 

 Mr. Bauer's a conviction that the defigners and engravers part of the fine 

 d cr W 'coKe!a. pl ates tnat accompany this eflay, has been excellently and 

 faithfully managed, as far as the then feafon would permit me 

 to compare them, and forae old ftraws of the laft year render- 

 ed it very probable, that the whole was correctly drawn. 

 Doubt whether But here I began to fufpect, that the rufi was not fo guilty 

 affeVsAe grain. as nas ^ een re prefented, for, admitting for a moment, that it 

 does intercept the fap by plugging the apertures faid to be 

 deftined in wet weather to receive the humidity of the atmof- 

 phere, yet, as it is nqt yet ascertained that it ftrik.es root, into 

 the cellular texture beyond the back, for I could not admit 

 of faying there is no doubt of a thing that has not yet been 

 traced, fee page 11 (or 227 of Journal) and as the plates, if 

 they prove any thing prove the contrary, vide fig. 7. I thought 

 we muft wait awhile before we could charge to this caufe the 

 diminution of our Hour. There was yet another motive in my 

 humble opinion for doubt : I faw, even by examining the ftraws 

 of laft year, that it was fcarcely poffible to find among hun- 

 dreds of rufted firaws that had blighted heads, one that any way 

 partook of the ruft except at the upper joint, and that partial- 

 ly only, while the fheaths that nature has kindly given to ward 

 off injuries, were compleatly confumed with it. Now I be- 

 lieve, no one will pretend to aflert, that this injury done to 

 the (heaths of the ftraws could in any way affect the rifing of 

 the yap to the ear ; we muft therefore, I foon faw, confine the 

 caufe of injury, if this be any caufe, to the quantity of fungi 

 that more immediately attacks the upper bare joint of the 

 ftraw. 



And even here it appeared at this early ftage of my doubts 

 to be very uncertain ; for if we reflect firft of all that it is 

 by no means pretended to be proved, that thefe fungi do 

 penetrate the cellular texture ; and next, that if they do, it will 

 remain to be proved, that by fo doing they materially intercept 

 the fap; and laftly (which I conceive to be no extravagant con- 

 jecture) that if they did, yet as far as the cellular texture of 

 ihe ftraw is concerned in conveying it, the interception could 

 only be very partial. — Taking all thefe reflections together, 

 I think I was grounded in entertaining doubts of the true 

 caufe having been exhibited, as is fet forth in this pamphlet, 



p. 13, 



